How can Indians be comfortable speaking english?

English, the language of the colonialists and ultimately a foreign language that can not hold a candle to a great language like sanskrit or even any indic language. How is speaking english not a sign of self hate? Why doesn't the Indian government try to prevent the spread of english?

English, the language of the colonialists and ultimately a foreign language that can not hold a candle to a great language like sanskrit or even any indic language. How is speaking english not a sign of self hate? Why doesn't the Indian government try to prevent the spread of english?

Singh I am serious. It is a sad state of affairs. No one respects those who have no respect for themselves. Indians speaking English means they don't respect their language and therefore they have no respect for themselves.

Singh I am serious. It is a sad state of affairs. No one respects those who have no respect for themselves. Indians speaking English means they don't respect their language and therefore they have no respect for themselves.

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I bet you speak your mother tongue at home ?
Since you are in Canada, keeping with Punjabi won't be an issue.

@Singh, @Dovah
Not talking about accents here - can make fun of all accents and usages across India - East, West, South or North.
English is spoken as a `status` symbol by all Indians.
And don't get me started me on Delhi people's language skills - lived there 5 years (enjoyed it BTW!).

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Regardless of how much you want to promote local languages, there is no way English is losing it's value. How do you teach curriculum in local languages? Translate everything? How would a Tamil student who has learnt everything in Tamil all his life integrate into a Bengali University or vice versa? Unless Indians are ready to accept a language as a national language to replace English, English will always enjoy the special status it does today and good-luck making Indians agree to a common language.

Fewer and fewer people nowadays speak good Hindi, good Punjabi, good Tamil, etc. AFAIK many Punjabis in Delhi cannot speak in `thet` Punjabi either.

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What is "good hindi/Panjab/ Tamil? All languages evolve, there are always different dialects, languages always import words and adapt to the times. One could argue that no one apart from the Britons speaks good English either.

English is spoken as a `status` symbol by all Indians.

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No. It is spoken as a necessity.

And don't get me started me on Delhi people's language skills - lived there 5 years (enjoyed it BTW!).

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This is a funny statement, on one hand you are bemoaning the influence of English in our society and on the other you are dismissing a people's language skill based on their grasp on English.

I dont find anything funny about the topic.

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I do. For two reasons.

1) This topic pops up every month on DFI.

2) It is funny that someone would post a thread lamenting the influence English in an English language forum, in English, residing in an English speaking country. Not to mention the fact most proponents of Sanskrit do not speak the language themselves( myself included).